Chatting to the beat of Duncan Phillips
10-31-2006
by Brenten Gilbert

The newsboys have been around forever (or so it seems) and once again, they're back with a brand new album to share with their ever-growing number of fans. Titled Go, the album's focus is encouragement for listeners to get out and start spreading the Gospel message to the world.

Similarly, the band has recently expanded their horizons, travelling around the world, performing in different countries and reaching a wider audience. CMCentral's brenten gilbert sat down and chatted with drummer Duncan Phillips on the phone, covering topics that include this new focus, the new album, whether or not it's really a "return" to the pop sound, and much more.

Below is that conversation.

CMCentral (brenten gilbert): How are you doing today?

Duncan Phillips: I'm doing well. It's just crazy busy for us. But apart from that, I'm doing awesome.

Good to hear. What are you up to today?

I'm running around after kids most of the day trying to give my wife a little bit of a break. I'm paying bills and doing all of that crazy stuff that normal people do.

Sounds fun. So are you guys excited about the next album?

Yeah, it's the best record we've done yet. You kind of always say that, but I wouldn't say it if I didn't really mean it. It's probably the one I've been most excited about in a while. I think the songs are better. I think the production is better. I think the playing is better. I think it's better on every level. I'm very excited about it.

Yeah, I was asking because this is the 12th studio album for the group. . .

Is that right? Is it 12 now?

Yeah, as far as I can tell, it's the dirty dozen. Twelve in the studio and then the greatest hits, remixes and stuff like that. . .

Okay, yeah, yeah. . .

So with all those albums, I was wondering how you guys get excited about each new album. Have things changed that much?

It's almost like a birth in a sense. You put all of this energy and work into something and when you finish the record, it's like a birthing. You are showing the world your child. Hopefully they like it. You never get sick of it because it's what you do. We love what we do and we are very fortunate to do what we do - we never get sick of that at all. The creative process is incredible and we all love to do it. It's very exciting and then when it comes out as [well] as this one, it's even more exciting. Hopefully, our fans will think the same.

Well, a lot of the fans and critics weren't too happy about the last couple albums you guys put out. . .

Really? I never heard that.

Well, it was kind of like a collective groan, because you guys were doing worship albums. . .

I never heard that. That's crazy.

So, then, I guess you guys weren't discouraged by that at all then over the last four years?

(laughs)

No. Gosh, no. Not one little bit. That's the first I've ever heard that, so that's news to me. I think that those were a couple of records we felt like making at the time and we are very proud of them. So that's the first I've heard of that.

Interesting.

This next record, called Go, is probably a little more of a hint back to maybe Take Me to Your Leader or Step Up to the Microphone. It's definitely a tilt back in that direction. It's not that you ever decide to do a certain type of record. Records become like children. That's to say that they tend to take on a life of their own once we start writing. People say that we are going to write this type of record and we don't do that. We just start writing and the record has kind of evolved into it's final state. So this one is probably a nod back to the earlier days of Leader and Microphone.

So it's purely a coincidence that this is a pop album. . . There wasn't any intentional decision?

I think what you do is start writing and whatever comes is what you've got to go with - it's all you got. At the time we were working on the last two records, we were heavily getting back into church, more than we had in the past. We were getting back to our first love in a sense. So those were the records that kind of came out of that time of our lives. I'm not saying we are going to church less now, but this is the record that just came at this time. It's not that we sat down and said, "Now that we've done this, we need to write a pop sounding record." It wasn't that at all. I think on every record that we've ever done, there has been at least one or two songs that could be classified as praise and worship and there are on this one as well. I don't really know what that means. It's almost like people have made praise and worship a genre. I believe you can praise and worship in the heaviest of heavy grunge metal - you can have praise and worship with that. I think people have categorized a style of music and said that's what praise and worship sounds like. We've never seen it that way. It's just a record with songs that came to us at the time.

Yeah, there is definitely some worship on the new album. It's always been there. And when you look back at the worship albums, there are some pop songs on those as well.

There really are. When we came out with the first record, a lot of people said, "Oh, you're jumping on this bandwagon." We did hear a little bit of that and we were like, "Gosh, if we were going to jump on the bandwagon, we're five years too late." You know what I mean, we missed it.

(laughs)

It's just where we were at at the time, but it still sounded like a newsboys record. It wasn't like we were trying to be someone else. It's just who we were at the time, making the best record that we could possibly make and that's what it was. I think that what happened was that people categorized them as worship records in their minds, which we are fine with, actually. We're totally fine with that. But we didn't set out to make a worship record, if that makes sense. We just set out to make the best record we could possible make. I think what happens is that when you do the record and send it out there, people tend to categorize it themselves. They kind of say what it is now. I'm very excited about the new one though. Very excited.

Fair enough. The new one is called Go. I guess that begs the question, where are you going?

Well, we plan to go all over the world this next year. This year we've been to Israel, Morocco, all over the US, and we just got back from Uganda. We played a show there, which was incredible. It's the first time that we've ever been to that part of Africa and it was absolutely amazing - a life changing experience for us. So we really want to go back there. We actually shot some footage for a movie that will be coming out in April or May. Basically what it's about bringing some more light to the AIDS epidemic that is going on in that part of the world. They've lost a whole generation. You see young kids and you see grandparents, but you don't see anyone in their 40s. You don't see them. They are just not around and it's because of this epidemic. Over here, we see pictures of the crisis every once in a while but in some countries 50% of the population between the ages of 30 and 45 have had AIDS. It's catastrophic really when you think about it. We went over there, we visited some orphanages and we spent some time with the people. But saying all of that, there was so much hope in that country. There is such a new wave, a new push coming from the government saying that abstinence as an answer to HIV AIDS. And it's working in that country. Since they've implimented [the policy of promoting abstinence], I think the percentages have dropped down dramatically. I feel that Uganda in particular - I haven't been to Sudan or any of the places around there, but I want to - is on the brink of something great because, whether they realize it or not, they are getting back to how we are supposed to live: abstinence before marriage and basic stuff. A lot of the culture is quite promiscuous and that is probably why AIDS is so prevalent within countries like that. It's not uncommon to have several wives and to have premarital relations - it's almost a part of their culture. And it's unfortunately becoming that way here in the US. A lot of the conditions aren't, for lack of a better term, sterile or clean [in Uganda], so I think it just helps disease spread faster.

So we are very excited about that project. It's actually done by the same film makers who did the movie, The End of the Spear. That came out to the theatres for a bit and I think you can get it on DVD now. We aren't quite sure what form it's going to take or how it's going to work, but I think but if we can use what we do to create more awareness of the catastrophe that's happening over there, we'll do that. We plan to go to Europe in a couple of weeks and we'll spend between week and ten days over there. We also plan to go to China by the end of the year, so that'll be a first for us as well. Hopefully people will follow our lead. Basically, the idea behind the name for the record is that the last thing that Christ said to His disciples before He left. Go out to all of the world and preach the Gospel. That is what we feel led to do at this time.

So how's it been performing in all of these international locations and . . .

It's really different. We play a show in the States or in Canada - even in Europe - and we have people catering to us and looking after us and all of this kind of stuff. You go to other countries and it's not like that. It's very exciting because we get very comfortable in the US and the shows that we do in the US allow us to go over and do these other shows. It's not about money at all - believe me, there is none there. It's more like doing a missions trip "newsboys style," because we do what we do. I'm not necessarily a great preacher, but I can play drums. So I use what I have to go over there and minister to people. The production is normally real different and a lot of times you go set up your own gear. It's kind of fun 'cause it's like back in the old days before we had all of our crew around. You set up your own gear. You do your own sound check. We rented a PA system over there and half of it didn't work. It was just crazy, just like the old days. But besides dealing with that, the people over there. . . the fans were just so appreciative. They never get to see the bands that they listen to on their CDs. They never get them coming over to that part of the world, so we went over there and the people, gosh, they are incredibly beautiful people. With the amount of war and famine and [oppressive leadership] over there for 20 or 30 years - they just lived under horrible conditions for years and years - but despite all of that, they are just the most beautiful people, really sweet and polite. It's crazy. You think they'd be different, but there is a real calling on that part of the world. When I was there, I really felt that there was a tipping point. They are at a tipping point right now and I think it is tipping in the favor of good. It was very exciting and I really would like to go back. It has nothing to do with being comfortable - it's stepping out of your comfort zone. That's hard to do, especially the first and second time, but the rewards you get a lot of times so outweigh [the discomfort]. We just had the best time. We met some nice people, but the funny thing is that they really haven't got a lot of material possessions, so all they can really hang on to is Christ. It's all they got. It's awesome. I look at people and think, "Man, you've got something here," even though we want to look at them and say, "man, you guys have nothing." But you are almost jealous of them because of their unwavering devotion to the Lord. It's so beautiful and there is no kind of weirdness, no agendas. They are just happy that you are there and so excited that you've made the effort to come all the way to their country and play for them. So I can't wait to get back.

Cool. Do they get excited about the spinning drum set?

Unfortunately, we didn't take it over there. They've seen it, which I thought was amazing. What really took me is how many people knew our stuff and actually knew who we were. We've never been to that part of the world and we were nervous, thinking, "aw man, what have we done?" We thought that the people weren't going to know who we are, but they did. We kind of decided at the last minute - about two days before we left - that we should do a show. It was just madness! We were there doing this filming, but two days before we leave, we were trying to pull a show together and get production. In those countries everything is. . . We were on the main street of Entebbe and the main street of Kampala and there are big potholes in the street. Everything just moved so much slower. It's not as slick and efficient as here. To pull something together two days before we left, I tip my hat to our production guys, they just pulled it together and that was really something. We actually shot some video of it too, so that was really nice video. We took some cameras there. I haven't seen the footage, but the people were just so connected to music. It was amazing. You just start a drum groove and the whole crowd - there was about three or four thousand people that night - they just know these moves. We don't know them, but it was awesome. It goes through the crowd like a wave and these bounces I can't do. You know what I mean? But it's the coolest thing that you've ever seen in your life. Music and dance is such a part of their culture and heritage. That was exciting for us to see that. We were so thrilled to go and we can't wait to go back.

Very cool. When you guys go to places like that do you have much time to do much more than just set up and do the show?

I think we had about 4 or 5 days there so it was really full. Four of the days we shot video for this movie and the other day was kind of taken up with the actual show itself. We hit the ground running. We got in about ten o'clock at night and the next morning about six o'clock we were up filming. So it was really intense just because of our time schedule more than anything. Originally, we were supposed to go over there for a little longer, but we just couldn't fit it all in. So we thought if we were going to go, we were going to hit it hard, work hard, which we did. It was really hard work, but that is what you do and it was great. We saw a little bit of the city. I bought some drums, some hand drums. Some sort of authentic African hand drums, of course, and just a few other odds and ends, some beads for my girls. Hopefully next time we might have a little bit more time, a few days on either side of a show and we'll be able to see a little bit more.

Sounds like a very neat experience.

It really was. We've been to South America before, Panama and Brazil and of course Mexico, but they are all different. They are all great, but when you go down there . . . I think the fans here. . . There are so many bands they can go see [in South America]. They can almost go see a CCM band once a month. There are CCM bands coming to their towns frquently, so they almost get very used to being able to see a band whenever they want to. But places like [Uganda]. . . They never get to see bands that they've been listening to for years. So newsboys goes down to Africa and it's just like two days before we do the show. All of a sudden we have four thousand people coming. There was no promotion, no radio, nothing like that. It was just word-of-mouth and in two or three days, we got four thousand people to come out. So the next time we are going to go back there we'll work with a promoter we met there and he says we can get between twenty and thirty thousand people. We'll see how that will go, but he says without a doubt. He's one of the local promoters - probably the only promoter in town. But it's such an event whenever someone does come there - Christian or non-Christian -so you just go. It's entertainment. So that'll be exciting. Maybe the first of next year we might get over there and get some more time in Uganda and Africa.

Cool. So what would you say is the mission of the Newsboys at this point?

Well at this point, it is to do the best that we can possibly do. If we've got a mission statement at the moment it's "go." Go out into all of the world and preach the gospel. It's so simple. It's so easy. We tend to think sometimes as Christians that we've got to save people. That we've got to do this. It's actually not our responsibility to do that. Our responsibility is to go to all of the world and preach the gospel. It says in His word that when every one has heard the gospel, then He will return. We feel if we can do our little bit toward getting the gospel out to all these areas of the world that have never heard of the gospel, then we are hopefully helping Christ come back earlier rather than later.

Alright. So looking back at all the Newsboys songs and there has been a lot what song would you say best describes you right now?

Oh man, that is such a tough question. I don't even think I could even answer that. Every record kind of signifies where you are at that time, so where I am right now. . . I guess as a band and myself, we are definitely in this mode of going to the far corners of the earth. Going to places that never get to see or hear [the Gospel message]. All we can do is do what we do and what we do is play music. We write songs and record music. We just go and do that to the best of our ability and use that. It gets back to a thing where a lot of people say. . . sometimes I'll see fans and they'll say, "Oh man, you guys do this and there is no way I could do anything like that," but it's not true. It doesn't matter if you work at Home Depot or build houses - you do whatever the Lord give you and He can use what you have. We are not builders at all, but we go down at least once or twice a year down to Baja, Mexico - which we just did maybe two months ago - and build houses. We're out there swinging hammers and that is not necessarily our gig, but we just really enjoy it. It's a great cause - to put people who are living in a cardboard box into a sturdy, framed, dry walled, and shingle roofed house. That gives us great pleasure to be able to do that and see a family that was living in nothing much more than a cardboard box with no running water or electricity. Putting them into an awesome little house with electricity and some kind of potty. It's incredibly rewarding and I think these are the things that the Lord looks upon and smiles. He notices. Nothing goes unnoticed. The Lord sees everything. He's looking for people He can trust to do His will. In the Word, it talks about the righteous man looking after the orphans, the fatherless and being a father to the fatherless, the homeless and the widows. That's just part of being a Christian. That's Christianity 101 right there, it really is. So we're not trying to do anything special. We're not trying to do anything more than Christ has called us to do. We are just trying to do what he's called us to do and helping those people is a part of just being a Christian. I think maybe at times in church history, we've kind of lost sight of that a little bit. Definitely some areas of the church have, but there are other people like The Salvation Army and groups like them that have been doing this for hundreds of years. We are just trying to do what we do, the best that we can. If we step out of our box and build a house here or there or put a family in a house, it will hopefully bring them closer toward a relationship with Christ. That is enough for any man to try to do.

Definitely keeps you busy anyway.

Yeah, it absolutely does and that's good. I think that is a good thing. We are made to work and we are made to be busy and another great thing is it keeps our attention off of ourselves. That can be one of the best things you can ever do for yourself. When you have nothing to do and you are sitting around, that is the worst thing. So the best thing you could possibly do, if you are bored, is to go help someone because there are plenty of people who need help.

Very cool. I have a kind of funny question I guess. I was reading through Wikipedia. I don't know if you've heard of that site, but it's kind of like an online encylopedia type of thing.

Okay.

They have an entry for you and it mentions that you and Peter were in "rival bands" before you came to the states. . .

(laughs) Yeah, we were.

Were there band brawls involved in this rivalry or. . .

Yeah, pretty much, but we won't go into that. That was a lot of years ago, we are trying to forget it you know.

(laughs)

Sometimes things are meant to be forgotten. But we are good now, we are dealing with it now.

Sounds good. Well is there anything else you want to share with the readers about the album or tour dates . . .

Well, it releases October 31st and I'd encourage you to go buy it first week. That'd be great. Obviously that is what we do and we'd love to get people out there listening to it. We are actually touring this record - doing a full tour. In the spring of next year. . . I think we start around February, so we'll be coming to a town near you. We'd love to see you at a show.

Sounds good. Thanks a lot for taking some time out of your family life.

Absolutely. It was a pleasure

Find out more about the tour, the album and newsboys at newsboys.com or MySpace.com/newsboys, and you can also preview the new album on the special flash player below: